Inside an inspection facility in Hong Kong in 2018, shark biologist Diego Cardeñosa stared at dozens of large white bags. They were stacked, sometimes six or seven high, beneath strip lights hanging from the ceiling. Each bag weighed more than 50 kilograms (110 pounds) — and was stuffed with shark fins. “It was the first time I saw that,” Cardeñosa wrote in an email to Mongabay. “Obviously, as a student, it was a shock and [a] reality check for me.” Cardeñosa, now a shark trade researcher at Florida International University in the U.S., lived in Hong Kong in 2018 and returned repeatedly from 2015 to 2020 as part of his PhD field research at Stony Brook University, also in the U.S. He helped train law enforcement in Hong Kong to use a mobile DNA kit to identify shark species whose trade is regulated under CITES, a treaty signed by 184 countries and the European Union that establishes rules for international trade in imperiled plants, wildlife, and their products. Many of the fins Cardeñosa saw in Hong Kong back in 2018 were cut from silky sharks (Carcharhinus falciformis). Like all shark species, silkies are heavily hunted for their fins, which are used in shark fin soup in China and Southeast Asia; they are also netted in vast numbers as bycatch. Shark numbers have cratered over the last 50 years. A 2024 study found that overfishing has halved populations of roughly 1,200 species of sharks and rays since 1970. An average of…This article was originally published on Mongabay

Spain’s law enforcement agency, the Civil Guard, announced on Sept. 25, 2026, that it seized 209 reptiles from breeding facilities in Jérica and Sot de Ferrer (Castellón), including critically endangered iguanas endemic to Fiji. Nearly half of the reptiles were protected under CITES, the global wildlife trade treaty. They also seized unlicensed handguns and nearly 200 rounds of ammunition. Authorities arrested three individuals — two men aged 48 and 51 and a 37-year-old woman — on a litany of charges: Belonging to a criminal organization, wildlife-related offenses, smuggling, money laundering and illegal weapons possession. The alleged traffickers reportedly smuggled reptiles from the wild in the Americas, Africa and Asia, and then bred them without permits, the authorities said. They added that these reptiles were then sold at European reptile and trade fairs, mixing smuggled animals with legally acquired animals — a practice called laundering that’s prevalent in wildlife trade. In this way, traffickers exploit the “legal gray area surrounding documentation that certifies the animals’ origins,” the authorities said in a press release. The Spanish case is just one recent example among a slew of seizures and arrests involving rare tortoises, endangered turtles, poisonous frogs, endemic iguanas and many other protected reptiles and amphibians worldwide. The trade is lucrative — estimated to be worth some $2.5 billion — and comes with little risk. It’s often unregulated. Smugglers are rarely caught, and if they are, they get off by paying a small fine, which is absorbed as the cost of doing business.…This article was originally published on Mongabay

Like a dark cloud of pestilence spreading across the globe in a science fiction movie, a highly contagious, fatal strain of avian influenza is continuing its death march across the globe, infecting wild birds, poultry, dairy cattle and mammals from pole-to-pole, sometimes with massive mortalities. In mid-June, it invaded the last bird flu-free continent, Australia, when the first cases of this lethal virus were detected in migratory seabirds, who likely brought it from the Antarctic to Australian islands, and then, inland. “These outbreaks mark the loss of the last continent previously free from the virus,” said Amandine Gamble, an expert on pathogens in endangered seabirds at Cornell University in the U.S., in a statement. “There are serious concerns for wildlife in Australia, New Zealand and surrounding islands, which are home to many already vulnerable endemic species.” The virus has spread rapidly since then, killing thousands of birds in some 690 “events” as of Oct. 6. An event may involve a confirmed infection or death of one — or many — animals. H5N1 has now spilled over into mammals, including endangered Australian sea lions (Neophoca cinerea) at key breeding sites. Across the globe, species that live or breed in colonies have died in shocking numbers, and this virus continues to mutate and adapt, infecting new hosts. As of publication, it had infected some 613 types of bird and about 112 mammal species, both wild and domestic, according to the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations. “We have seen this virus…This article was originally published on Mongabay

Maleos, black-and-white birds that stand 60 centimeters (2 feet) tall with a distinctive splash of blue, orange and yellow on their faces, roam Sulawesi’s thick tropical jungles. But when it’s time to lay their eggs, they arrive at communal nesting grounds: Sandy beaches heated by the sun or the earth’s geothermal energy. There, they dig burrows with their webbed blue feet, lay their eggs and disappear. After a couple of months, the younglings hatch and, miraculously, are ready to fly within a few hours. This is an iconic bird on Sulawesi, serving as the official faunal mascot of Central Sulawesi province and of the Bogani Nani Wartabone National Park. Once considered widespread on Sulawesi, maleos (Macrocephalon maleo) are now on the brink of extinction, classified as critically endangered. Their numbers have dwindled to just 4,000-7,000 breeding pairs, mainly because their forest habitat is disappearing and they are targeted by poachers. Since 1983, the birds have lost more than two-thirds of their 149 nesting grounds as residential and commercial development takes over sandy riverbanks and beaches, and habitat is ravaged by mines and sliced by roadways. Maleo eggs are considered a delicacy, so people raid nests, and fewer chicks are born to replenish the population. But now, illegal trade in live maleos is emerging as a new and serious threat to their survival, according to a recent study published in the Journal of Asian Ornithology. These birds are trafficked to serve the booming demand for exotic pets. Researchers documented three seizures…This article was originally published on Mongabay

It is far easier than one might expect to access the illegal wildlife trade in Canada. Chris Shepherd, a senior conservation advocate with the Center for Biological Diversity, knows this firsthand. On a recent call with Mongabay, he recounted attending a reptile fair in Canada and speaking to a seller who told him he regularly received shipments of “anything you want” from the U.S. “I asked him about a few illegal [Indonesian] animals … he said, ‘Oh, I just sold out of those. I’ll get more next weekend,’” Shepherd said. Globally, the black-market wildlife trade is driving many species toward extinction, and it’s extremely lucrative: Poaching and illegal sales of wildlife are valued at about $20 billion annually, according to a paper published last year in the journal Ecology and Evolution. Meanwhile, the legal trade is estimated at $220 billion a year, trading at least 70,000 species, that are often shipped or smuggled in vast numbers. Meanwhile, there’s little data on sustainability, according to a broad international study. Beyond the conservation concerns, this trade also poses a serious public health threat. Importing animals from around the globe without proper oversight can expose both humans and livestock to zoonotic diseases that jump between species. Examples include Ebola, tuberculosis, rabies, avian influenza and COVID-19, to name a few. The illegal wildlife trade is also a national security issue because of the perpetrators: International organized crime syndicates run these black-market operations, which can only function through bribes, fraud, complicity and corruption. Few realize…This article was originally published on Mongabay